Labour in progress!
It is 23:10 on 6 Jan 2007 and contractions started earlier today at 2am. I was not sure whether these initial contractions were real or not as I had had a 3 hour session of regular contractions the previous night, resulting in little sleep and a big sense of disappointment as the pain went for nothing. But despite the ups and downs of today the pain is proving worthwhile as these contractions are real and are opening the cervix. We went to St Georges at 5pm to get checked out as there had been a slow down in foetal movement and I was worried especially after having been in labout for over 12 hours. The hospital were great and checked the baby on the scanning equipment and also did a VE which showed my cervix to be effaced and 2cm dilated. Although 2 cm is still a long way off the fact that it was effaced is a great sign and means it can hopefully just keep dilating now.
Contractions appear to have slowed temporarily now, but have been as regular as every 3 mins lasting for about 1 min. The hospital recommend going back in when they are more like every 2 mins so I have more waiting around here to go.
I am pretty tired now having not really slept for 2 nights and about to go into the 3rd sleepless night. I hope I have enough strength to push the baby out and will try and rest again after this blog - although that is easier said than done as the pain can be pretty excruciating at times. Some contractions are worse than others, literally taking my breathe away, but some are bearable. I am trying to remain calm as I could see how easy it would be to lose control of the situation and succumb to the pain. At some point this may happen anyway but I would rather delay this as much as possible to give me and the baby the best chance of as natural a labour as possible.
The pain so far has been sharp and at the front lower abdomen and is now also occuring in the lower back area. This was a little different to what I was imagining as I thought it would be mor of an ache occuring all over the uterus, but I think this may come with stage 2 when the uterus tries to push the baby out.
Contractions have had phases of regularity but then slip into irregular phases as well with intensity changing throughout. The midwives say this is just early labour and that once it is more established the contractions will become more regular and the intensity will continue to increase.
It is necessary to think of the contractions one at a time otherwise the whole process is too daunting for words. I honestly cannot even begin to think that this process will lead to the birth of a baby - which I know sounds ridiculous, but I am just concentrating on one contraction at a time and trying to get through this process.
Right - I will close now and try to get a little rest if not sleep and the next time I blog I will hopefully be able to introduce our lovely baby.
Contractions appear to have slowed temporarily now, but have been as regular as every 3 mins lasting for about 1 min. The hospital recommend going back in when they are more like every 2 mins so I have more waiting around here to go.
I am pretty tired now having not really slept for 2 nights and about to go into the 3rd sleepless night. I hope I have enough strength to push the baby out and will try and rest again after this blog - although that is easier said than done as the pain can be pretty excruciating at times. Some contractions are worse than others, literally taking my breathe away, but some are bearable. I am trying to remain calm as I could see how easy it would be to lose control of the situation and succumb to the pain. At some point this may happen anyway but I would rather delay this as much as possible to give me and the baby the best chance of as natural a labour as possible.
The pain so far has been sharp and at the front lower abdomen and is now also occuring in the lower back area. This was a little different to what I was imagining as I thought it would be mor of an ache occuring all over the uterus, but I think this may come with stage 2 when the uterus tries to push the baby out.
Contractions have had phases of regularity but then slip into irregular phases as well with intensity changing throughout. The midwives say this is just early labour and that once it is more established the contractions will become more regular and the intensity will continue to increase.
It is necessary to think of the contractions one at a time otherwise the whole process is too daunting for words. I honestly cannot even begin to think that this process will lead to the birth of a baby - which I know sounds ridiculous, but I am just concentrating on one contraction at a time and trying to get through this process.
Right - I will close now and try to get a little rest if not sleep and the next time I blog I will hopefully be able to introduce our lovely baby.
posted by Phillippa at 3:10 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home